How property is marketed for sale has changed beyond recognition in the last decade or two. It used to be the case that agents would take out pages and pages in the local newspaper to advertise properties for sale with just a single grainy photograph and a few bullet points. Property brochures were printed and given to prospective buyers or posted out. You might even be able to remember when the photographs were physical, developed and stuck onto cards in the agents' windows.

While many properties were sold this way, it was slow, labour-intensive and time-consuming, meaning that homeowners would be limited to the potential audience of buyers, and it would take a long time to find a buyer.

Thanks to technological advancements, digital photography, and online property portal websites, the process of selling a property has become significantly faster. Buyers can now explore a new home in a different area with ease. Properties are uploaded to portals like Rightmove, allowing buyers to browse through a variety of properties at their convenience.

This level of accessibility and convenience practically eradicated newspaper advertising, and buyers and sellers alike flocked to the property websites. This way, agents can showcase properties with photography and video footage and email matches to potential buyers on their database at the click of a button.

Now, almost all buyers will begin their search for a new home online. You might see a for sale board up outside a property as you drive by, and you will head to the website, rather than calling the agent, to take a closer look.

But finding a new home to buy takes time and patience, and now that websites are the norm, it can lead to hours of hopeless scrolling through listings and clicking through photographs. And whilst there is a sense of convenience, there are limitations. In particular, the search functions. Whilst buyers can benefit from being able to see properties on the market 24 hours a day, the search capabilities of those websites are often limited to postcodes, price ranges and number of bedrooms.

What if you specifically want a garage and parking? What if you want a study to work from home or a summer house in the garden? In this case, you will have to search through each listing to see if it will work for you and your family. It is labour-intensive, time-consuming and unnecessary.

Imagine being able to specify exactly what you need in your next home, saving you time and helping you find the perfect home for you. This level of control and customization can significantly enhance your home-buying experience.

What if you are selling a property, and your agent could connect you with a specific buyer in their database who is looking for a new home just like yours? This two-way process not only saves time and energy for buyers but also helps sellers find the right buyer who will truly appreciate their home.

After years as the prominent marketing tool for estate agents to sell properties, times are changing, and sellers no longer rely on property portal websites, where their property is listed amongst every other property on the market.

Innovative estate agents can harness technology to help find the buyer that is perfect for your house. This could mean you could try to sell your home 'off market', quietly marketing to a select few buyers without having to broadcast your move to the world.

If you are interested in learning more about how we use innovative technology to find the perfect buyer for your home, get in touch today.

If you are thinking of buying a new home and want to be informed of properties that fit your needs without missing out or having to spend your whole life online, register for our Heads Up alerts on our website.